Meta is blocking ‘potentially sensitive’ topics from Threads search

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Threads is currently blocking searches for a number of “potentially sensitive” words, including “vaccines,” “covid,” and other variations of words that have previously been linked to misinformation on Meta’s platform.

It turns out that Threads’ recently introduced keyword-searching abilities won’t work for all topics. The app is currently blocking searches for a number of “potentially sensitive” words, including “vaccines,” “covid,” and other variations of words that have previously been linked to misinformation on Meta’s platform.are an apparent attempt to prevent controversial content from spreading on Meta’s newest app.

Meta’s history shows the company has good reasons to be cautious about search on Threads. Instagram search has been widely criticized as a vector for misinformation and its ability to lead users down conspiratorial rabbit holes. The app’s search was particularlyduring the early days of the pandemic, when it promoted conspiracy-touting anti-vax accounts in its top results for simple queries like “vaccine” and “5g.

At the same time, it’s telling that Meta is now opting to block all searches containing “potentially sensitive” keywords, even posts that don’t contain rule-breaking content. It’s also a notably more aggressive approach than the social media company has taken in the past. While Meta has previously limited search functionality on both Facebook and Instagram, the company has typically intervened when search terms were explicitly linked to rule-breaking content, like specific hashtags related to QAnon. In other cases, the company has worked to clean up search results for topics like vaccines, and pushed in-app PSAs directing users to official resources.

Meta’s caution also underscores just how quickly the company rushed the development of Threads. The app was released just

 

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